Peter Schiff sums up general market malaise, as DCG CEO Barry Silbert touts Bitcoin as a safe harbor for investors.

As the British pound collapses, bond prices decline and interest rates rise, Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert says Bitcoin will become the safe haven asset of choice.

As stock markets slumped on September 27, 2022, with the S&P 500 down 1% by the end of the day and the tech-heavy Nasdaq down 0.6% on Monday following the highest reported yields for 10-Treasury notes years, maximalist gold and Bitcoin bear Peter Schiff predicts that the Federal Reserve will follow in the footsteps of its UK counterpart and introduce quantitative easing:

“The Bank of England has already pivoted. As collapsing bond prices and rising rates threatened a financial crisis, the BOA announced a new QE program to print pounds and buy #gilts. Record UK inflation will now soar. Which central bank will blink next? Hint, rhymes with Ted,” Schiff tweeted.

Schiff, known colloquially as the “gold bug,” has been a vocal critic of Bitcoin, choosing instead to present gold as the superior inflation-resistant safe-haven asset.

While Schiff’s prediction about the 2008 financial crisis came true, his views on inflation as a rise in money and asset prices leading to increases in consumer prices have been criticized by the award-winning economist Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, who believes in the consumer price index as the measure of inflation.

Krugman believes that the Fed’s money-printing exercises are not used to pay government bills in a country like Argentina, but to keep prices rising at a predictable rate of around 2% each year. Therefore, the effect of inflation in those countries is not comparable to the United States.

It Has not yet Reached Critical Mass

On the other hand, DCG CEO Barry Silbert tweeted that the world’s largest cryptocurrency would become the world’s new safe-haven asset amid broader macroeconomic turmoil.

In fact, Bitcoin rallied early on September 27, 2022, when the US dollar briefly weakened before falling with the S&P 500 below $19,000. It has rallied with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and is trading at approximately $19,000 at press time.

While this shows a growing correlation with equities, SkyBridge Capital CEO Anthony Scaramucci argued earlier this year that Bitcoin will not become an inflation hedge until the number of Bitcoin wallets increases to 1 billion or plus.

Others, like Gemini co-founder and billionaire Tyler Winklevoss, believe that the properties of Bitcoin dictate that it should react differently to stocks, and that any existing correlation between stocks and Bitcoin exists only because Bitcoin is still in its infancy as a class of active.

Investment Horizon is Key

Some experts believe that Bitcoin’s breakout from stocks on September 26, 2022 is a sign that the fundamentals are right for the cryptocurrency, ahead of a price surge.

Investors tend to shy away from cryptocurrencies when less risky investments such as bond yields rise. But when long-term bond yields decline, known as a bond yield curve inversion, investors may still see a long-term opportunity presented by low crypto prices.

This means only one direction for Bitcoin: upwards.

By Audy Castaneda

Inflation has caused the Argentine peso to depreciate by ten million over time, preventing people from living decently. Citizens increasingly use Bitcoin as an alternative to the national fiat currency, as it allows them to send and receive value across borders.

Since Argentines face financial collapses daily, Bitcoin has emerged as an alternative solution to their weakening fiat currency and corrupt financial system.

The South American country has no access to international capital and owes more than USD 40 billion to the IMF. While the prices of goods and services skyrocket, almost 50% of the citizens has fallen into poverty.

Over the last century, successive governments have burdened the nation with unmanageable debts, leading Argentina to go bankrupt nine times. They have printed banknotes to deliver social services, seen how inflation has skyrocketed while political unrest has arisen, and instituted monetary reform.

Because of Argentine inflation, the national fiat currency, the peso, has depreciated by ten million. Amid political pressure, politicians embrace monetary reform, which includes mixing raising policy rates and controlling currency exchange rates.

Various Factors Cause the Value of the Argentine Peso to Drop

Marcos Buscaglia, an Argentine economist, recently said the peso loses value over time, preventing people from living decently.

The current Argentine economic crisis started over the last ten years with the administration of former president Cristina Kirschner. She spent foreign loans massively on subsidies and social programs, causing public debt to soar while inflation and interest rates skyrocketed.

Although President Mauricio Macri promised to recover the economic system, the peso dropped further against the US dollar. Due to the imposition of capital controls, Argentines felt forced to hoard black market US dollars under their beds.

In 2018, Marci secured a USD 57 billion credit line from the IMF, the largest in its history. The money came with the warning that he had to implement anti-inflation policies, for which he sought shortcuts. Although he sold many high-interest short-term bills to absorb liquidity, poverty rose and made citizens impatient.

Later, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, decreasing food supplies, and tighter energy markets affected economies globally. Shortly after the shutdown, Argentina defaulted on sovereign debt, leading inflation to reach 70 percent.

Bitcoin Offers Many Advantages to Citizens amid Economic Problems

Argentines increasingly use Bitcoin as an alternative to the peso, being able to send and receive value across borders. Besides resistance to debasement and seizure, people can securely store it on a USB stick or in their head, remembering a seed phrase.

Even though Bitcoin is not perfect, it remains a superior alternative to the peso. According to The New York Times, nearly 60% of Argentines believed that the pioneering cryptocurrency would retain the value of their savings over time.

About one-third of Argentines said they traded cryptocurrencies at least once a month, doubling the percentage of people in the United States. Bitcoin will not solve all economic problems but is super valuable, as politicians cannot destroy it.

By Alexander Salazar

The exchange considers the good news as an important advance in financial inclusion.

The Bitso subsidiary responsible for the change is NVIO Pagos, an electronic payment funds institution that since 2021 bases its operations in Mexico, which will be connected to the Interbank Electronic Payment System (SPEI)

Bitso, one of the most important cryptocurrency platforms in Latin America, announced the change of its payment system in Mexico. The old traditional system was based on the Mexican financial system, which did not seem to be entirely consistent with cryptocurrency transactions. Some operations did not end up being accepted by most of the world’s central banks.

NVIO Pagos will be connected to the Interbank Electronic Payment System (SPEI), a real-time settlement system (LBTR) of Banco de México, the country’s monetary regulator, which until now facilitated transfers of resources from banks, brokerage houses, among other financial institutions.

NVIO has become the first company to connect directly to SPEI as a fintech company. It was also the first to obtain authorization from the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) to operate in Mexico under the Fintech Law scheme, in January 2020.

In this regard, Felipe Vallejo, Global Director of Regulation and Corporate Affairs at Bitso, told the Mexican media outlet El Economista the following:

“This transition represents a big step for Bitso in our mission to make crypto useful through a simpler, less frictionless user transaction experience. With this connection, transfers will be processed more quickly, with the support of NVIO.”

A new way to complete transactions

With this, Bitso complements its cryptocurrency operation service with NVIO Payments, which will function from now on as the transaction processor in Mexican pesos.

Prior to this advance, Bitso and NVIO Pagos had carried out interbank operations through the STP provider. However, the crypto exchange plans to fully finalize the legal and technical move to direct connection by the end of this year.

He also added a few comments about the adoption of cryptocurrencies in Mexico:

“We are excited to see that the adoption of cryptocurrencies in Mexico is increasingly linked to use cases that improve the lives of our users, which contributes to our mission of making crypto useful.”

The SPEI system was developed to facilitate payments between financial institutions, in addition to allowing them to offer secure and efficient payment services to Mexican consumers. SPEI seeks to offer anyone with a bank account in Mexico a 24/7 solution to carry out transactions with real-time payment confirmation.

The rise of Bitso in Latin America

Bitso is one of the few cryptocurrency exchange companies and the only one in Latin America to obtain a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) license.

It is the tool provided by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC), a sovereign agency that has developed one of the most advanced frameworks to regulate trading in cryptocurrencies.

According to Statisa data, Bitso is among the most used exchanges in Latin America, along with Binance and Crypto.com. Although the adoption of cryptocurrencies ETH and BTC has been massive in Latin America so far this year, the activity was concentrated in six countries: Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, and Chile, according to the count between January 1 and April 4 this year.

As can be seen, there are four countries in which Bitso operates, including Colombia. In Mexico alone, Bitso accumulates 40% of downloads and preferences in terms of reference exchange.

By Audy Castaneda

The following support zone of the SHIB price is USD 0.0000098, the last level of horizontal support before a new yearly low. Meanwhile, that of DOGE is at USD 0.052 if the bearish move continues the most likely scenario.

The prices of Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogecoin (DOGE) recently formed long upper wicks after horizontal resistance levels rejected them. That suggests that there might be a new yearly low for each in the short term.

While the meme coins struggled to rise, rejection and ongoing decline reversed all previous gains, threatening their bullish structure. It is important to remember that the overall crypto market is amid a so-called winter.

The Price of Shiba Inu May Suffer a New Collapse

The value of SHIB has risen along an ascending support line since its low of USD 0.0000071 in June. The bullish move caused it to reach a high of USD 0.000018 in August.

Since then, the price of the crypto asset declined until breaking below its support line, validating it as resistance on September 9^th.

Subsequently, SHIB reinforced this assumption by breaking below the USD 0.000012 horizontal zone and validating it as resistance, forming a long upper wick.

The following support zone is USD 0.0000098, the last horizontal support before a new yearly low. The daily relative strength indicator (RSI) also reveals that SHIB may resume its bearish movement toward the above support zone or below it.

Therefore, the most likely scenario suggests Shiba Inu may suffer a collapse unless the price regains the USD 0.000012 horizontal zone.

SHIB is trading at USD 0.00001106 and has accumulated a 0.1% loss over the last 24 hours. While its daily trading volume is above USD 212.26 million, its market capitalization is about USD 6.51 billion, according to CoinGecko.

The Value of Dogecoin Cannot Maintain Its Bullish Trend

The price of DOGE attempted to start a bullish trend, just like SHIB did. That move followed a period when the daily RSI generated a bullish divergence.

However, a considerable price rejection occurred afterward, forming a long upper wick and validating the USD 0.0655 area as resistance. Therefore, the trend may remain bearish if the price of DOGE does not regain that zone.

The nearest support zone would be USD 0.052 if the bearish move continued, which seems the most likely scenario. The daily RSI, which fell below 50, also supports the decline.

DOGE is trading at USD 0.060239 and has accumulated a 0.8% loss over the last 24 hours. While its daily trading volume is above USD 206.23 million, its market capitalization is about USD 7.94 billion, according to CoinGecko.

Investors should research SHIB, DOGE or any other crypto asset before buying it to know its all-time high, behavior, and possible future price. That will help them find the most convenient investment opportunity to minimize the risk of losing money. It is a matter of time before seeing how the market influences where it may head next.

By Alexander Salazar

The European Central Bank is working with some leading companies to develop a digital form of the euro. The governor of Banque de France said Europe should regulate crypto assets to avoid risking the strength of its fiat currency.

The authorities should not abandon their plans to regulate crypto assets because of the decline in interest in them. Those were the words of François Villeroy de Galhau, member of the European Central Bank and governor of Banque de France.

In 2021, he said that applying rules to the crypto asset industry is crucial for Europe to prevent the euro from losing its strength.

Villeroy Thinks It Is Time to Regulate the Cryptocurrency Sector

François Villeroy de Galhau recently restated that a complete regulatory regime should control the cryptocurrency industry.

He stressed that the current market decline had led many investors to avoid delving into the crypto asset class. However, that reason should not cause regulators to back down from their intentions to impose rules on the sector.

In other words, Villeroy believes that the crypto market winter is not a sufficient reason for complacency or inaction.

Villeroy also argued that regulators must be cautious, as a wrong regulatory model might damage the financial system. He said they must avoid adopting conflicting or inconsistent regulations or applying them too late. The governor of Banque de France believes this would imply creating an irregular playing field, thus risking arbitration and cherry-picking.

The European Central Bank Works on Developing a Digital Euro

Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank, noted that people have increasingly used digital payments. The French politician and lawyer said the financial institution should respond to that situation.

The European Central Bank focuses on issuing a digital form of the euro, not on supporting the advancement of Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins. In early September, the institution announced that leading entities like Amazon, CaixaBank, and Worldline would help develop the CBDC prototype.

Villeroy Also Believes Stablecoins and Central Bank Digital Currencies Are Risky

In July 2021, the governor of Banque de France said that Europe should take crucial measures to regulate crypto assets. He argued that not doing so would put the euro at risk.

Villeroy stated that Europe must be ready to act quickly to avoid risking its financial sovereignty regarding digital currencies or payments.

Two years ago, the French civil servant and banker discussed that even stablecoins and CBDCs might pose risks. Therefore, he highlighted that regulators should oversee them, thus protecting the European financial system.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are increasingly relevant in the economy worldwide, which regulators know very well. The European Central Bank has always rejected the idea of adopting them as they allegedly contribute to illegal activities.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin is trading at around USD 19,450 and has accumulated a 4.1% gain over the last 24 hours. While its daily trading volume is above USD 46.72 billion, its market capitalization is about USD 372.74 billion, according to CoinGecko.

By Alexander Salazar